How to Make Your Beauty Routine Easier Without Cutting Corners

How to Make Your Beauty Routine Easier Without Cutting Corners

There is a difference between simplifying your beauty routine and simply doing less.

I think that's an important distinction.

Because most of us don't wake up in the morning thinking, I wish I had more steps to get ready today.

We want to look put together. We want to feel good. We want our routine to work.

We just don't necessarily want it to take forever.

And that's where a good beauty shortcut comes in.

The Best Beauty Shortcut Is the One That Actually Works for You

I've become a big believer in having a few beauty routines that I don't have to think too hard about.

My favorite is my five-minute face.

It's not meant to be a complete makeup routine. It's the handful of things that make me feel like I've done enough to look like myself when I don't have a lot of time.

And I think that's the secret.

Your five-minute face doesn't have to look like mine.

Maybe yours is mascara, brows and lip color.

Maybe it's moisturizer, concealer and blush.

Maybe it's just your favorite lipstick and a pair of earrings.

The point isn't to copy someone else's routine.

It's to figure out what makes the biggest difference for you.

Once you know that, getting ready becomes much easier.

Sometimes the Shortcut Is Organization

Here's a beauty shortcut that isn't particularly glamorous—but I love it.

I keep my makeup together by category.

I have one container for all of my eye products because, as a photographer, I believe eyes really are the windows to your soul. So yes, I have a lot of eye makeup.

My second container holds my face, cheeks and lip products.

That's it.

Instead of digging through drawers or moving half of my makeup around to find one particular product, I know exactly where to look.

It's a tiny change, but it saves time over and over again.

And sometimes those are the best shortcuts.

Not the dramatic ones.

The ones you barely notice because they simply make your life easier.

I Love a Product That Does More Than One Job

I have a multitasking lotion from Sam's Club that costs less than $10, and I use it as my nighttime face lotion and my body lotion.

It's also great as a spot treatment.

One inexpensive product, several uses.

I'm in.

But I do think there's a little bit of a catch when it comes to multitasking beauty products.

A product doesn't automatically become a good shortcut because the label says it can do six things.

I want it to actually do those things well.

Otherwise, I'm not saving time. I'm just trying to convince myself that a mediocre product is convenient.

And that's not really the kind of shortcut I'm looking for.

My Beauty Shortcut That Takes About 15 Minutes

This one might sound funny during a week when Red Aspen is launching polish, but one of my favorite beauty shortcuts is still my Red Aspen dashes.

I can apply them in about 15 minutes and have a finished-looking manicure.

For me, that's a shortcut.

Not because 15 minutes is nothing.

But because I know exactly what I'm getting, I don't have to make a salon appointment, and I can do it at home.

That's my kind of beauty convenience.

And it's also why I think the best beauty shortcuts are personal.

What saves one person time might not save another person any time at all.

Not Every Beauty Hack Needs to Become Your Beauty Hack

I see a lot of beauty hacks online that are supposedly going to save us time.

And quite honestly, my first reaction to some of them is:

Why?

If a “quick” beauty hack requires six products, three tools, a complicated technique and a tutorial that I have to watch twice before attempting it…

I'm probably going to pass.

Not everything online is relevant to our lives.

Not everything is realistic.

And not everything needs to become part of our beauty routine just because someone else made it look easy on a 30-second video.

There's a difference between discovering a clever shortcut and creating more work for yourself.

I vote for the clever shortcut.

Try This: Find Your Five-Minute Upgrade

Here's a little challenge for you.

The next time you're getting ready in a hurry, don't try to do everything.

Instead, ask yourself:

What is the one thing that makes the biggest difference?

Maybe it's mascara.

Maybe it's blush.

Maybe it's your brows.

Maybe it's your favorite lip color.

Maybe it's simply putting on earrings and changing into an outfit that makes you feel pulled together.

Whatever your answer is, make that your five-minute upgrade.

You don't need to completely reinvent your beauty routine.

You just need to know what works.

And Yes… School Picture Day

Wednesday is school picture day.

Which is a sentence I never expected to be writing at 55.

And yet here we are.

I'm thinking about what I'm going to wear, what my hair is going to do, and how much makeup constitutes “I look nice in pictures” without crossing over into “Why am I wearing this much makeup at 8:00 in the morning?”

Life is funny sometimes.

But it's also a pretty good reminder of why I like having a few reliable beauty shortcuts.

There will always be days when you need to look pulled together.

There will always be mornings when you have less time than you'd like.

There will always be another appointment, event, picture day, meeting, errand or unexpected change of plans.

You don't need a complicated routine for all of those moments.

You need a few things you know work.

The Beauty Shortcut Rule

So here's my rule for beauty shortcuts:

If it makes your real life easier, keep it.

If it saves time without sacrificing the result you want, that's a win.

If it makes your routine more complicated, takes longer than the original method or leaves you wondering why on earth am I doing this?

Skip it.

Because beauty isn't supposed to become another source of work.

It's supposed to help you feel like yourself.

And sometimes the smartest beauty routine is the one that gives you the same polished result—with just a little less effort.

Beauty should fit your life—not complicate it. Because confidence is always in style. 💕 – Heather | Beauty Quips 

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